Tens of thousands march in Spain over handling of deadly floods
By AFP
November 9, 2024
Protesters in Valencia marched to the city hall to voice their anger
Alfons LUNA
Tens of thousands of people marched Saturday in Valencia to voice their anger at the authorities’ handling of deadly floods.
Thousands also marched in other Spanish cities, but the Valencia regional authorities put the turnout in the regional capital at 130,000.
Some protesters shouted “Murderers! Murderers!” and some carried placards denouncing Valencia’s regional president as well as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The region was the worst hit by last month’s floods, the most serious in decades, which killed at least 220 people and left towns and cities swamped with mud.
Local people are furious about the lack of warning, some pointing out that official alerts for the floods landed on people’s phones when cars were already being washed away.
There is anger too over what critics say was the slow response of the authorities in the aftermath of the deadly flash floods that affected around 80 towns and cities in the region.
Police and protesters faced off on Saturday in a tense atmosphere, with some clashes breaking out, an AFP journalist witnessed.
The rally started in the square in front of city hall before a march to the Valencia regional headquarters.
Some protesters had harsh words for regional president Carlos Mazon, a 50-year-old lawyer who is a member of the right-wing opposition Popular Party.
Mazon was among the senior figures pelted with mud by angry protesters last Sunday — along with Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain — as they visited the flood-hit region.
“Mazon’s management has been outrageous and he should resign,” 75-year-old Julian Garcia told AFP.
“In the hours before, they should have warned people to be on the alert, not to take their children to school, not to take their cars to work,” he added.
But while the Valencia regional government was too slow to ask for help from Madrid, the central government also shared some of the blame, said Garcia.
As beleaguered residents waited for official help to arrive, many local people took matters into their own hands, turning out in large numbers to start the clean-up themselves.
Some of the marchers chanted what has become a popular refrain in recent weeks: “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo!” (Only the people save the people).
– ‘Shameful’ –
Of the 220 deaths confirmed so far, 212 of them were killed in the Valencia region. The clean-up operations in some villages — and the search for bodies of dozens of missing people — is still going on.
Ana de la Rosa, a 30-year-old archivist, blamed poor management and political in-fighting between the regional and national authorities.
“They got mixed up in political guerilla warfare when it wasn’t the time,” she said.
De la Rosa argued that it was not enough for the key officials to resign: there was a case to be made that their mismanagement amounted to manslaughter, she said.
Another demonstrator, 50-year-old Trini Orduna, said that both the regional and national authorities should take their share of the blame, describing the country’s political class as “shameful”.
Protesters also marched in other cities across Spain, including Madrid and Alicante, in the Valencia region.
The health board of the Valencia region has reported no outbreaks of infectious diseases or a major threat to public health.
Even so, regional health authorities have asked local councils to apply measures to control and prevent the proliferation of mosquitoes and other insects capable of spreading diseases.
By AFP
November 9, 2024
Protesters in Valencia marched to the city hall to voice their anger
- Copyright AFP/File Laura Morosoli
Alfons LUNA
Tens of thousands of people marched Saturday in Valencia to voice their anger at the authorities’ handling of deadly floods.
Thousands also marched in other Spanish cities, but the Valencia regional authorities put the turnout in the regional capital at 130,000.
Some protesters shouted “Murderers! Murderers!” and some carried placards denouncing Valencia’s regional president as well as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The region was the worst hit by last month’s floods, the most serious in decades, which killed at least 220 people and left towns and cities swamped with mud.
Local people are furious about the lack of warning, some pointing out that official alerts for the floods landed on people’s phones when cars were already being washed away.
There is anger too over what critics say was the slow response of the authorities in the aftermath of the deadly flash floods that affected around 80 towns and cities in the region.
Police and protesters faced off on Saturday in a tense atmosphere, with some clashes breaking out, an AFP journalist witnessed.
The rally started in the square in front of city hall before a march to the Valencia regional headquarters.
Some protesters had harsh words for regional president Carlos Mazon, a 50-year-old lawyer who is a member of the right-wing opposition Popular Party.
Mazon was among the senior figures pelted with mud by angry protesters last Sunday — along with Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain — as they visited the flood-hit region.
“Mazon’s management has been outrageous and he should resign,” 75-year-old Julian Garcia told AFP.
“In the hours before, they should have warned people to be on the alert, not to take their children to school, not to take their cars to work,” he added.
But while the Valencia regional government was too slow to ask for help from Madrid, the central government also shared some of the blame, said Garcia.
As beleaguered residents waited for official help to arrive, many local people took matters into their own hands, turning out in large numbers to start the clean-up themselves.
Some of the marchers chanted what has become a popular refrain in recent weeks: “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo!” (Only the people save the people).
– ‘Shameful’ –
Of the 220 deaths confirmed so far, 212 of them were killed in the Valencia region. The clean-up operations in some villages — and the search for bodies of dozens of missing people — is still going on.
Ana de la Rosa, a 30-year-old archivist, blamed poor management and political in-fighting between the regional and national authorities.
“They got mixed up in political guerilla warfare when it wasn’t the time,” she said.
De la Rosa argued that it was not enough for the key officials to resign: there was a case to be made that their mismanagement amounted to manslaughter, she said.
Another demonstrator, 50-year-old Trini Orduna, said that both the regional and national authorities should take their share of the blame, describing the country’s political class as “shameful”.
Protesters also marched in other cities across Spain, including Madrid and Alicante, in the Valencia region.
The health board of the Valencia region has reported no outbreaks of infectious diseases or a major threat to public health.
Even so, regional health authorities have asked local councils to apply measures to control and prevent the proliferation of mosquitoes and other insects capable of spreading diseases.
UNAPOLIGETIC STANLINISM
By AFP
November 9, 2024
Rafael hit western Cuba as a major Category 3 hurricane and plunged the island into darkness - Copyright AFP ADALBERTO ROQUE
Cuba’s government said Saturday it arrested an unspecified number of people who staged demonstrations when a hurricane left the island without power for the second time in weeks.
Street protests are very rare in communist-run Cuba.
The prosecutor’s office said those arrested in Havana and the central provinces of Mayabeque and Ciego de Avila were being charged with assault, public disorder and property damage.
Hurricane Rafael knocked power out on Wednesday after hitting the west of the Caribbean island of 10 million people as a major Category 3 storm. The blackout lasted two days.
It came just two weeks after Hurricane Oscar, which left eight dead in the east of the island during a national electricity blackout caused by the failure of the island’s biggest power plant and a shortage of fuel.
The government said that half of the people of Havana now have electricity again but much of the capital and the neighboring province of Artemisa do not.
According to the prosecutor’s office, those detained after protesting were being held “for acts of aggression against authorities and territorial inspectors, causing injuries and public disturbances.”
A human rights group called Justicia 11J said more than 10 people were arrested in Guanabacoa, a town on the outskirts of Havana.
“Persecution of people in the capital continues,” it wrote on the social media platform X. It said those arrested had been acting peacefully in protests that the group itself documented.
The Miami-based NGO Cubalex said Friday that eight people were arrested in Encrucijada in central Cuba.
Cuba has been suffering hours-long power cuts for months and is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since the breakup of key ally the Soviet Union in the early 1990s — marked by soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.
The island’s electricity is generated by eight aging coal-fired power plants, some of which have broken down or are under maintenance, as well as seven floating plants leased from Turkish companies and a raft of diesel-powered generators.
With concerns of instability on the rise, President Miguel Diaz-Canel has warned that his government will not tolerate attempts to “disturb public order.”
On July 11, 2021, thousands of Cubans took to the streets across the island shouting “We are hungry” and “Freedom!” in a rare challenge to the communist government.
According to Mexico-based Justicia 11J, more than 1,500 people were arrested after those protests, of whom 600 are still in prison.
Some have been given prison terms of up to 25 years.
Other sporadic protests have occurred in the last three years, erupting over power blackouts and other miseries.
The UN General Assembly last week renewed its long-standing call for the United States to lift its six-decade trade embargo on the communist island.
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